Engaging Children through Apps for Good

Apps for Good is a charitable organisation based in the UK, which offers children the chance to work as app developers. It is an incredibly exciting and empowering experience for children and can result in high levels of motivation and engagement.

I would like to share my experience in teaching Computing through the Apps for Good project, which I hope will give other teachers the confidence to introduce Apps for Good into their own schools.

First, it is worth noting that Apps for Good is probably most suitable for secondary children. However, it us definitely feasible for children in Year 6 too. Children can be prepared by giving them access to the App Design course, on code.org. This teaches them the block-based coding and interface that they will use when designing an app for Apps for Good. Many children love this initial experience of designing simple apps about something they are interested in. This can be a skill they use across subjects, as they design apps for science, history etc. 

Apps for Good offers three courses, based around the environment, social action and AI. They have produced extensive materials about each course. My suggestion for schools introducing Apps for Good for the first time would be to keep input simple for children. Encourage them to discuss several problems and possible solutions, evaluating feasibility of solutions with reference to examples of apps other participating students have made (these are available on the Apps for Good website). Children will then create 'wire frames', where they draw out their apps and write algorithms. The programming process will then flow fairly naturally, using the code.org App Lab interface.

Entering an app into the showcase requires children to doctheir work, including making a promotional video. This can provide great opportunities for crossover into literacy and humanities work. 

I am recommending Apps for Good based in the motivational effect I have seen it have on children, giving them a context for creating digital content. Please feel to reach out to me if I can be of any help.